


I wish I could lay down beside you (When the day is done)

by Finduilas



Series: Hiding My Heart Away [1]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, First Kiss, First Time, M/M, PWP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-24
Updated: 2012-04-24
Packaged: 2017-11-05 15:38:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/408117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finduilas/pseuds/Finduilas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve finally gets what he’s been longing for, and he’s committed to remembering every single detail.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I wish I could lay down beside you (When the day is done)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my amazing and wonderful friend iam_space. Many thanks to theellibu for porn-approving. ;) Also many, many thanks to m_l_h for the quick and excellent beta! Title from _Hiding My Heart Away_ , by Brandi Carlile.

He’s not quite sure how it happens. Danny’s there, but then Danny’s always there – at least on weekends he doesn’t have Grace. And they’re drinking longboards and chatting away as Steve clears the table – ‘cause yes, Danny always stays for dinner.    
  
“You know, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t kill you to actually give me a hand with these,” Steve says, nodding towards the dishes he’s placing in the sink, “instead of sitting there and watching me work.”    
  
Because, yes, Danny never actually does a whole lot of work when he’s at Steve’s, but Steve really doesn’t mind all that much because he knows that Danny actually does quite a lot for Steve – even if Danny might not realize it himself.    
  
Danny stretches out, a sly smile directed at Steve – and Steve is quite sure he’s doing it deliberately – and says, “Aww babe, I wouldn’t want to interfere with your precious system. Wouldn’t want to step on your toes.”    
  
“You think I have a system for doing the dishes?” Steve quirks an eyebrow.    
  
“Don’t you have a system for everything?” Danny asks, fake-innocent.    
  
“The things you’ll make up not to help with the dishes astound me,” Steve smiles, submerging the dirty plates in water.    
  
“I bet you have a system for arranging stuff in the fridge,” Danny continues, as if Steve never even spoke, “Or, like… for flirting. The Steve McGarrett Flirting System, TM.”    
  
“You are insane, you know that, right?” Steve chuckles, now elbow-deep in dishwater.    
  
“Where first you stare at a woman, get her to notice you,” Danny goes on, getting up from his chair and marching over to Steve. He leans his hip against the counter next to Steve, beer bottle sweating condensation in his hands. “Which isn’t all that hard to do when you look like that, I imagine.” Danny waves a hand dismissively in Steve’s direction.    
  
“Then you flash ‘em one of those smiles,” Danny continues, fingernails picking at the edges of the label of his bottle, completely absorbed into his own monologue, “And you probably have a whole lot of pick-up lines filed away, but you never actually have to use them ‘cause once there’s that smile you’ve already won, game over, ‘get in my bed now’.”    
  
Steve tries hard to keep his composure as his wet and soapy hands grip the edge of the sink. He knows he’s staring, but he can’t help himself because he’s not sure Danny actually realizes what he’s been saying here, and it’s hard to ignore the way his stomach does a little skip at Danny’s words.    
  
And then Danny’s face gets a little bit flushed and he ducks his head as he sets the bottle on the counter behind him and spreads his hands as he explains, “I meant… You know… there’s… you…”    
  
“Why does it have to be women, though?” Steve smirks, because two can play that game, and maybe he isn’t so far off the mark here?    
  
Before Danny can say something else, Steve can’t help but smile broadly at him – it happens unconsciously, ‘cause it’s  _Danny_  for God’s sake.    
  
“You!” Danny grits his teeth, pointing at Steve’s face like he’s actually using a secret weapon instead of simply smiling, and then Danny mutters, “Your face should be illegal,” and there’s a hand curled around Steve’s neck and Danny is kissing the smile right off his face.    
  
Steve’s hands are still wet, but Danny doesn’t comment on it as they grab him by the hips and pull him close.    
  
“Fucking menace,” Danny mutters, and he’s already gripping the edge of Steve’s shirt and pulling it up like he’s on the clock or something.    
  
Steve thinks maybe he’d like to savor it, like to keep it slow, keep it going forever, but he figures that he’ll take what he can get because he’s wanted Danny like this since as long as he can remember and he’s going to get everything out of it.    
  
The shirt gets discarded quickly, and Danny’s mouth breaks away from Steve’s and he starts licking his way down to Steve’s pecs, circling the nipple with his tongue, and Steve finds himself gripping Danny’s head at the nape of his neck because a minute ago he was just doing dishes and now he’s rock-hard and Danny’s tongue is making its way back up to Steve’s neck and this is unreal, this isn’t happening, he can never be  _this_  lucky. But then Danny palms Steve’s cock through his pants and  _fuck_ …    
  
Steve starts scrambling at Danny’s shirt, pulling him up, capturing him in a scorching kiss. When he presses himself flat against Danny, he can feel that Danny is hard too, hot and heavy against Steve’s thigh.    
  
“Bedroom, bedroom,” Steve mutters, pulling Danny out of the kitchen and into the living room.    
  
“You got a system for this too?” Danny smirks, but his breathing is ragged and his pupils are blown wide and Steve can tell how badly he wants it.    
  
“Maybe I do,” Steve teases, trying to slow himself down a bit, “And all of it involves you far more horizontal and far more naked.”    
  
“Yeah?” Danny breathes, swallowing down hard.    
  
“Oh yeah…” Steve says, nuzzling the side of Danny’s neck with his face.    
  
“So what is it exactly that you’re planning on doing to me?” Danny asks, throwing his arms around Steve’s neck as he pushes himself up on his toes, like he’s trying to crawl closer to Steve, into his skin.    
  
“Whatever you want me to,” Steve admits with a shaky breath, far too fast and easy for his own liking, but it’s nothing if not the truth, so he can’t really say he regrets it.    
  
A groan escapes from Danny’s mouth, and Steve can feel him shiver in his arms, and it has a direct circuit to Steve’s cock, it seems.    
  
“Tell me what you were thinking of right then, babe,” Steve breathes against Danny’s neck.    
  
Danny just tightens his grip around Steve’s body a little more.    
  
“Tell me,” Steve says again, almost begs, “Tell me what you want me to do to you…”    
  
Steve can feel Danny swallow against him. “I never…” he starts, “I…”   
  
“What have you never done, D?” Steve  _needs_  to know now. He needs to give Danny everything he’s ever wanted. He needs it to be memorable because if all they will have together is this night, then Steve will make damn sure that Danny will never ever forget it.    
  
“Never… ugh…” Danny mutters, struggling to get the words out and Steve isn’t sure if it’s due to the fact that his arousal is clouding his brain, or because he’s actually embarrassed in some way.    
  
“Anything you want, Danny…” Steve whispers in Danny’s ear, fingers smoothing away hair from Danny’s forehead. “I can make it so good for you…”   
  
“Your tongue…” Danny finally lets out, almost sagging into Steve’s body. “I want it in me, I…”    
  
And  _yeah_ , Steve can definitely do that. The thought alone is enough to make his dick twitch and the mere fact that Danny wants it so badly, that Danny’s never done it before…    
  
“Want me to rim you, Danny?” Steve’s hand sliding down over Danny’s ass, squeezing before toying and pressing a few fingers between Danny’s fabric-covered cheeks.    
  
“Yes,” Danny admits, pushing back against Steve’s fingers.    
  
“Yes,” Steve repeats, and pulls Danny’s shirt over his head, dropping it onto the floor as Danny kicks off his shoes and toes off his socks. Steve’s already barefoot and there’s only pants and underwear separating them now, and Steve’s fingers fumble at the belt of Danny’s pants.    
  
“Want me naked and horizontal, babe?” Danny asks, his hands tracing patterns in Steve’s hair.    
  
“Fuck yeah,” Steve exhales, grinning like a madman because this is actually happening. This is happening and Steve can’t even believe how he got to be so lucky.    
  
“Well…” Danny murmurs, “Wouldn’t want to mess up your system…” and he steps dutifully out of his pants and boxers and Steve wants to comment that he doesn’t really  _have_  an actual system for any of this, but there’s Danny’s cock, thick and glistening with pre-come and right there for the taking and Steve doesn’t know what the hell he was going to say anyway.    
  
“It’s not just there for the looking,” Danny smirks, and Steve wonders how long he’s actually been staring at Danny’s naked cock, but it must’ve been too long if the amused look on Danny’s face is anything to go by.    
  
“If I…” Steve says, shakes his head as he squeezes his eyes shut for a second, trying to clear his head. “We’re never going to make it upstairs.”    
  
“Well, we can’t have that,” Danny says. He breaks away from Steve and heads for the stairs. Steve just stands there, watching as that pert ass bounces up the steps.    
  
“You better have lost those pants by the time you find me in your bed,” Danny throws over his shoulder, and disappears from Steve’s sight.    
  
Steve closes his eyes, hands beside his body as if he’s standing at attention, and he inhales and exhales deeply. Then he’s pulling off his pants like he’s got a personal vendetta against them and rushes up the stairs, two steps at once.    
  
When he stands in the doorway to his bedroom, he can’t help but bite his bottom lip at the sight of Danny stretched out on the crisp white sheets, staring back at him. He tries to take a mental snapshot, committing the image to his brain forever. Danny runs a hand over his fuzzy chest, down to cup his balls and gives them a squeeze.    
  
“Jesus…” Steve says, and before he knows it his knees are hitting the bed and he’s stretched out over Danny’s body, cocks aligning and hands everywhere.    
  
“This,” Danny mutters against Steve’s lips, as if it somehow explains everything.    
  
Danny’s tongue is wet and sloppy inside Steve’s mouth, and his fingers are clutching at Steve’s shoulders. Steve wraps his hand around Danny’s cock, tentatively at first, like he’s testing the waters even though Danny is writhing beneath him, groaning into his mouth. He pumps his hips up to counter Steve’s hesitance and Steve gets with the program, quickening his strokes, thumbing the head of Danny’s cock none too gently.    
  
Danny groans out his name and reaches down to take Steve’s dick in his hand, but Steve fears that if Danny actually gets his hands on him, he’ll never be able to break away, and he made a promise, dammit, so he pulls back and sits back on his heels.    
  
“Hey…” Danny says, and it sounds like a whine and Steve revels in the sound.    
  
“Later,” Steve says, running his hands down Danny’s sides before he nudges him to turn over.    
  
Danny’s eyes widen, and Steve can tell he’s nervous but he’s pliant in Steve’s hands as he rolls over and pillows his head on his arms.    
  
“You say stop, I stop,” Steve says, as if that was ever really in question, and Danny looks back over his shoulder and nods – lip caught between his teeth.    
  
“Fuck, I’m going to lose it just looking at you,” Steve mutters, and dips down, pressing kisses at the small of Danny’s back.    
  
He runs his hands up Danny’s thighs, kneading his thumbs in between his butt cheeks and he can’t resist sinking his teeth into Danny’s firm ass. Danny all but yelps and grinds his cock against the mattress, hips twitching. Steve traces his tongue over the slightly red imprint he just left and Danny’s already whimpering and muttering incoherent nothings into the sheets and Steve hasn’t even gotten to the good stuff yet.    
  
He places one hand on the small of Danny’s back, not entirely sure if it’s to keep himself or Danny grounded, and then he lets his tongue slide in between Danny’s cheeks. The responding shudder feels better than he ever could have hoped for, and Steve doesn’t hesitate now, he just swipes his tongue over Danny’s entrance, runs back down to twirl around it.    
  
“Shit,  _Steve_ …” Danny says, his voice strangled and hoarse.    
  
Steve grins against Danny’s skin, the thrill of knowing he’s the first one to actually do this to Danny making him harder than he’s ever been. He presses his palm over his own straining cock, gives a few brief strokes to relieve the most imminent pressure.    
  
There’s pre-come on his fingers as he rubs them over Danny’s ass, his tongue still teasing at Danny’s opening. Danny’s pliant underneath Steve’s touch, letting out a string of muttering curses and groans and Steve’s name, over and over again. And Steve always figured Danny wouldn’t be able to shut up in bed, but to actually hear it, to actually experience it himself…    
  
Steve moans, then pushes his tongue past the rim as Danny automatically spread his legs wider for Steve. Danny’s hips twitch, grinding his cock deeper into the mattress as Steve’s tongue makes its way inside. The constant run of words stop but it still takes Steve a while to realize that Danny’s holding his breath.    
  
“Breathe, babe,” Steve whispers, rubbing his jaw against Danny’s butt cheek as he pulls back for a second. He runs his hand soothingly over Danny’s back, and then Danny’s gasping for air, hips grinding down, then pushing up, as if he’s presenting himself for Steve.    
  
“Please…” Danny mutters, forehead digging into the sheets, “Steve, please…”    
  
So Steve runs his tongue over Danny’s skin again, from the sensitive area behind his balls up to his hole, and pushes in without hesitation. He’s rewarded by Danny bucking up, letting out a cry of pleasure.    
  
Steve squeezes his eyes shut, inhales the sharp musk of Danny’s scent, breathes in the taste of pure  _Danny_ . He reaches down and tugs his own dick roughly, trying hard not to come right then and there. And in a way it’s a relief that Danny seems to be struggling with the same thing, because suddenly he’s pushing up on his arms, head hung down between his shoulders and rushing out, “Steve, stop it. Stop it. I’m gonna come. I don’t wanna…”    
  
Steve pulls back with a gasp, rolls over and lets himself drop down on his back next to Danny with a groan. He rubs his hands over his face, trying to compose himself again.    
  
“You’re killing me…” Danny mutters, swinging an arm over Steve’s chest and leaning down to kiss him thoroughly.    
  
Steve moans into the kiss, wondering if Danny can taste himself on his tongue.    
  
“Steve…” Danny says, nuzzling his face against Steve’s neck as he runs his hand up and down Steve’s side. “Fuck me. Please.”    
  
“Oh  _Jesus_ , Danny,” Steve grunts, pushes Danny face down on the mattress. He scrambles at the nightstand for a condom, which thank  _fuck_  he keeps within reach.    
  
“I see you’re on board with this plan,” Danny smiles breathlessly over his shoulder.    
  
“You have no idea, Danny…” Steve grins, fingers fumbling with want as he rolls the condom over his aching cock.    
  
“Yeah?” Danny asks, slipping a tube of lubricant in Steve’s hands. “Think I might.”    
  
Steve squirts the lube on his fingers, sliding them between Danny’s crack and pushing in, one finger at a time. He leans over as Danny tilts his head to the side, sneaking in a quick kiss.    
  
“Want you…” Steve says against Danny’s lips.    
  
“I’m good, I’m good,” Danny pants, pushing back against Steve’s fingers as they disappear easily into his body. “I was ready when you stuck your tongue in there.”    
  
“Eager,” Steve says hoarsely, “I like that.”    
  
He tosses the lube off the bed, wipes his slippery fingers on the sheets as he lines up his cock.    
  
“You have no idea…” Danny echoes Steve’s words and then he actually pushes back and stretches himself out over Steve’s cock.    
  
“ _Fuck_ ,” Steve gasps, all but collapsing on top of Danny.    
  
He rests his forehead against Danny’s sweaty shoulder for a second, trying to adjust to the feeling of heat and tightness surrounding him as he slides in completely.   
  
And then Danny’s back to muttering curses under his breath as Steve starts building up a rhythm, pushing into Danny until he’s gasping for air. Danny’s pushing back, matching each thrust fervently. Danny’s fingers are gripping the sheets until his knuckles are white, and there’s sweat collecting in the dip of his back and Steve can’t resist running his fingers through it, then wrapping them around Danny’s cock.    
  
Danny makes a noise that sounds remarkably like a hiss as Steve squeezes the base of his cock, then starts stroking, a little twist on the upstroke.    
  
“Fuck,” Danny grunts, “No way I’m gonna last…”    
  
And if the tell-tale tightening of his own balls is something to go back, Steve won’t be far behind.    
  
“You’re so tight,” Steve whispers, pounding into Danny, each shove bringing him closer and closer to the edge.    
  
He wants to slow down, he really does. Wants to make it last, wants it to never end because he might never get the chance again. The chance to be buried inside Danny. To have Danny’s naked body writhing underneath him, spilling grunts and gasps of want. For him. For  _Steve_ .    
  
And then Danny spasms against him, clenching down  _hard_  on Steve’s cock as he comes, spilling all over Steve’s hand and the once-clean bed sheets. There’s a sound coming out of Danny’s mouth and it’s mumbled and breathless but Steve thinks it might be his own name and he has to bite down hard on his lip not to scream out something incredibly stupid or needy, something he’s sure Danny wouldn’t want to hear and might mess this up entirely.    
  
His hand slips free from Danny’s spent cock as he keeps thrusting into Danny, chasing his own release. Danny’s elbows buckle and his face hits the mattress with a stretched-out groan, but he’s  _still_  pushing back against Steve’s thrusts until Steve simply can’t hold it in anymore… He shoves in one last time, a groan muffled by Danny’s shoulder as he reaches his orgasm.    
  
He collapses on top of Danny, still buried deep inside him, and for a long time the only sound that can be heard in the bedroom is harsh breathing and satisfied hums.    
  
Steve doesn’t move until Danny tries to push himself up a bit, trapped between Steve’s body and the bed.    
  
“Sorry…” Steve mutters weakly, slipping out of Danny and rolling onto his back with great hardship.    
  
“’s okay…” Danny smiles, immediately turning over and pressing his body against Steve’s side. “Just had that pesky need to breathe.”    
  
“’s overrated,” Steve smirks and steals another kiss from Danny, just one more, making sure he never forgets the way those lips fit against his.    
  
“Stupid SEAL,” Danny chuckles as he breaks away, deliberately taking a way-too-deep breath.    
  
Steve closes his eyes as he melts into the sheets, licking his lips, chasing after Danny’s taste. He’s oddly touched as Danny gently strips off the condom for him, but resists the urge to roll his eyes as he hears it hit the floor with a disgusting wet smack.    
  
“Your household skills leave somewhat to be desired…” Steve smiles, tightening his hold around Danny’s shoulder a little bit.    
  
“Not my household,” Danny mutters sleepily, pressing a smile into Steve’s neck.    
  
“Yeah…” Steve says, and he’s suddenly wide awake again. He knows Danny’s just saying things, and he’s not even  _wrong_ , but it still stings a little bit.    
  
Maybe Steve never quite knew how big his desire to be with Danny, to share his life with Danny, was? But he’s pretty sure that in the morning, Danny will be gone, and they’ll continue their lives as before. As partners. As friends.    
  
Danny’s breathing evens out, and Steve grabs the corner of the sheet to wipe up some of the mess that’s clinging to Danny’s skin. A shower would be better, but this will have to do because Danny is humming contently against Steve’s neck as he drifts off to sleep and Steve doesn’t have the heart to wake him up.    
  
Besides, Steve doesn’t mind the few extra hours of closeness to Danny he might get from this. He’ll take whatever he can get. 


	2. And Wake Up To Your Face Against The Morning Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up after his first night with Steve isn’t exactly how Danny pictured it would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for theellibu, because she’s not feeling too well. She asked for “angsty morning after”. Hope this helps make you feel a little bit better, babe! ♥ Beta’d by the wonderful and very quick iam_space.

_I wish I could lay down beside you  
When the day is done  
And wake up to your face against the morning sun  
But like everything I've ever known  
You'll disappear one day  
So I'll spend my whole life hiding my heart away_   
~Brandi Carlile   
  
He’s not quite sure what it is exactly that wakes him up, but when Danny turns onto his back and reaches out, he discovers that Steve isn’t there anymore. Danny pries his eyes open and glances at the clock. He closes them again, listens to any sounds that may be coming from the bathroom. But he can’t hear anything over the sound of the waves gently dying out on the sand.    
  
And suddenly Danny’s wide awake, because he was supposed to wake up with Steve curled around him, with Steve’s goofy smile looking up at him, with Steve’s kisses covering every inch of his body because they finally, _finally_  got this far, but now it’s 2.43 a.m. and Danny is laying alone in Steve’s bed and that sure as hell wasn’t part of the plan.    
  
The stairs creak quietly when he walks down. He puts on a shirt and some boxers that Steve has laying around, his own clothes are still scattered around the living room floor. The stairs creak, but Steve – who’s sitting on the couch, staring into nothing – doesn’t acknowledge Danny’s presence.    
  
Danny stands on the landing for a second, and it’s like he can feel little pieces of his heart crumble away.    
  
Steve’s leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, fists curled together, pressed tightly against his mouth. He’s staring out in front of him until he closes his eyes as Danny makes his way down the last steps.    
  
“You leaving?” Steve asks, his voice coarse and grainy.    
  
Danny blinks a few times, trying to regain some footing but he fails. “I…” is the only stuttering sound that leaves his mouth.    
  
Steve gets up from the couch, shoots him a painfully dishonest smile and says, “It’s okay, you can go” before walking past Danny and heading up the stairs.    
  
For a second Danny thinks he doesn’t know how to breathe anymore, and he makes a choking sound as he gasps for air. His knees decide not to support him anymore and Danny hits the second step of the staircase with a thud; because there was kissing and intimacy last night, and it meant  _everything_  to Danny and now he was just being  _dismissed_ ?    
  
He wants to leave, wants to put as much distance between himself and Steve, wants to go cry or maybe throw up, but he can’t remember where he left his keys. He can’t remember where his shoes ended up. And he can’t remember how to fucking walk or  _breathe_ . And Danny wonders if maybe this is what a panic attack feels like?    
  
There’s Steve’s voice making its way through the fog in his head and Danny can’t tell if he’s imagining it or not until there’s a hand on his shoulder and Steve is calling out his name. And it’s as if everything snaps back into motion and Danny jerks his shoulder away, stumbles to get up and away from Steve.    
  
“I don’t need your pity,” Danny says, even though it’s not at all what he wants to say but his body seems to be deciding things for him.    
  
“What?” Steve asks, and he looks genuinely confused.    
  
“ _What?_ ” Danny repeats, his heart pounding in his throat. “You basically kick me out in the middle of the night, like I’m some cheap one night stand. You don’t even have the decency to wait until morning and then you decide to go soft on me? ‘Poor little Danny with his stupid feelings’, is that it?”    
  
“What are you talking about?” Steve snaps, his eyebrows furrowed in a frown. “You were the one leaving!”   
  
“You just told me to go!” Danny counters, eyes wide.    
  
“You were…” Steve stops, arm waving towards the stairs.    
  
“Are you kidding me?” Danny all but growls. “I wake up in the middle of the night to discover that you can’t even sleep in the same bed as me, even though you fucked my brains out in it just a few hours ago! What should I have done? Should I have left right away? Maybe snuck out while you were washing the cum off your dick? Would that have been more convenient for you?”    
  
Steve flinches at Danny’s words and takes a step back.    
  
“Danny, that’s not…”    
  
“I should punch you in the face right now, you know that?” Danny spits out, but he can’t stop his eyes from prickling and  _fuck it_  if he’s going to cry in front of Steve. “Fuck you, Steve!”   
  
So he grabs his pants that he sees flung over the edge of the couch, and he looks around in hopes of finding his shoes. He’s fumbling as he tries to get one leg into the pants, hunched over to see if his shoes are maybe underneath the coffee table, and it doesn’t fucking work. The pant leg is all twisted and he can’t see shit in this darkened living room and his blood is pounding in his ears and…    
  
“Fuck!” Danny yells as he throws the pants back on the floor, disappointed that it doesn’t actually make a crashing sound or maybe knock something over.    
  
“Danny…” Steve is there again, with his hand on Danny’s shoulder and Danny just lashes out, pushing Steve away – hands planted firmly on Steve’s chest – until Steve falls back, flat on his ass.    
  
“Where are my damn shoes?” Danny yells in frustration.    
  
Steve is staring up at Danny, lips slightly parted, a horrified look on his face. His eyes are red and huge and Danny thinks it’s the only thing that’s keeping him from walking out the door right now – if only he could find his goddamn shoes.    
  
“Danny…”    
  
“Stop saying my name!” Danny barks, rubbing his fingers in his eyes and ignoring the fact that they come away damp.    
  
“I didn’t want to wake up and find you gone,” Steve blurts out, still motionless on the floor.    
  
Danny’s stomach twists and he clenches his jaw. “What?”    
  
“I couldn’t sleep,” Steve says, his voice small and brittle. “All I could think about was waking up and finding you gone. And I just couldn’t handle that.”   
  
“What are you talking about?” Danny asks, deflating slightly. “That’s what you just put me through.”    
  
“I thought…” Steve starts, shaking his head as if to clear it. “I didn’t think you’d…”    
  
“Wait…” Danny says, sitting down on the floor next to Steve. “Why did you think  _I_ ’d be gone?”   
  
Steve is quiet for a little while, biting the inside of his cheek before he finally says, “Just… you know” and then shrugs.    
  
“Yeah, that’s really not an answer…” Danny drawls out. “And no, actually, I don’t know.”    
  
“’cause it’s what they do, Danny,” Steve says with a put-upon sigh.    
  
“What who does?” Danny frowns. “You’re not making any sense.”    
  
“ _People_ , Danny. It’s what people do,” Steve says, annoyed. “They sleep with you and then they’re gone by the morning. Or maybe sometimes after a few mornings, but the result is the same. They leave. End of story.”    
  
And Danny’s beginning to see the entire picture here. Realization is setting in, while Steve is just sitting there on the floor, looking as empty as he’s probably feeling.    
  
“Okay, this is seriously fucked up, McGarrett,” Danny says, scooting a little closer to Steve. “Because you should be apologizing to me here, not the other way around. But I guess that’s not really as important as what I need you to hear, I need you to understand…”   
  
Danny lets out a deep breath, waits until Steve is looking at him before saying, “I don’t know what fucked up people disappeared on you – I mean, yeah, I know some of it, but… – but they were idiots, and they were  _wrong_ . Okay? Do you get that? And you are  _seriously_  wrong for putting me in the same boat as them.”    
  
“I just…” Steve breathes out, closes his eyes. “I just couldn’t bear thinking of you leaving.”    
  
“Imagine how I felt when I woke up?” Danny counters, and he knows it’s a cheap shot but he can’t help himself.    
  
“I’m sorry,” Steve says after a while, his eyes still closed and his head hung.    
  
“I thought we were better at communication than this,” Danny huffs, attempting a weak smile. “I thought… last night… I thought you understood what it meant to me.”   
  
“People always…” Steve shakes his head slightly. “They always act like they’re really into you and…”    
  
“Fuck!” Danny shouts, causing Steve’s head to snap up. And the words are just leaving Danny’s mouth on their own accord. “I want to hunt down and  _hurt_  every single person that ever made you feel like you’re not worth it, starting with your father because he fucking messed you up! They all deserve bloody torture, Steve, for doing this to you. For making you this way.” And he thinks maybe he’s gone too far, maybe Steve will hate him for the things he’s saying about people that he cared for, but he just can’t stop the flow of words. He grits out slowly, “I am  _not_  these people, Steve. I am not like them. Everything I did with you last night, every single emotion… It was real. I didn’t ‘act’ like I was into you, like every single piece of my life fell together when you slept with me… That was real. If I tell you I love you, they’re not just words. Don’t you get that?”    
  
Danny snaps up his head at his own words, just in time to see Steve swallow hard and his hands trembling.    
  
“You love me?” Steve asks, and if the waves outside would have been just the tiniest bit louder, Danny doesn’t think he would’ve heard.    
  
But there’s no use in going back now, and it’s imperative that Steve understand him, that Steve believe him.    
  
“We are a great team,” Danny says, his voice soft. “You’re my best friend, and you’re the best partner I ever had. And if I didn’t truly love you, if I wasn’t completely in love with you, I never would’ve risked this. I never would have risked losing the best thing that ever happened to me – besides Grace – for a simple fuck, okay? So yeah… I love you. And when I woke up to find you gone, when I thought you were asking me to leave…”    
  
“You deserve to punch me in the face,” Steve mumbles, his voice shaky but he offers a faint smile.    
  
Danny snorts, burying his face in his hands, feeling exhaustion creep up on him.    
  
“I promise to still be there when you wake up, if…” Steve says hesitantly, shrugging a bit.    
  
“You better be.” Danny huffs as he gets up off the floor. He looks down at Steve and holds out his hand.    
  
“Trust me,” Steve says, his face determined as he slides his hand in Danny’s.    
  
“Haven’t I always?” Danny asks, fingers firmly entwined with Steve’s as he leads them back up the stairs. 


End file.
